The Carousel du Louvre is an underground shopping mall

Shopping mall

A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...

 in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. The name refers to two nearby sites, the Louvre

Louvre

The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...

 museum and the Place du Carrousel

Place du Carrousel

The Place du Carrousel is a public square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, located at the open end of the courtyard of the Louvre museum, a space occupied, prior to 1871, by the Tuileries Palace...

. The mall contains a famous skylight, the La Pyramide Inversée

La Pyramide Inversée

La Pyramide Inversée is a skylight constructed in the Carrousel du Louvre shopping mall in front of the Louvre Museum in France...

 (the inverted pyramid), which plays an important role in the best-selling book The Da Vinci Code

The Da Vinci Code

The Da Vinci Code is a 2003 mystery-detective novel written by Dan Brown. It follows symbologist Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu as they investigate a murder in Paris's Louvre Museum and discover a battle between the Priory of Sion and Opus Dei over the possibility of Jesus having been married to...

.

The shopping mall is located at 99 Rue de Rivoli in the 1st arrondissement. The mall is located near the Tuileries Gardens, the Comédie-Française

Comédie-Française

The Comédie-Française or Théâtre-Français is one of the few state theaters in France. It is the only state theater to have its own troupe of actors. It is located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris....

, the Musée d'Orsay

Musée d'Orsay

The Musée d'Orsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the left bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, an impressive Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1915, including paintings, sculptures, furniture,...

 and the Louvre

Louvre

The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...

. The nearest metro stop is Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre (Line 1).

The mall is 10,200 square meters. It was opened in October 1993. Major retail tenants include Virgin Megastore

Virgin Megastore

Virgin Megastores is an international chain of record shops, founded by Sir Richard Branson on London's Oxford Street in early 1971. Virgin Megastores are best described today as entertainment retailers....

, Sephora

Sephora

Sephora is a chain of cosmetics stores founded in France in 1970 and acquired by Paris-based conglomerate LVMH in 1997. The Sephora chain includes more than 750 stores in 17 countries...

, Esprit

Esprit Holdings

Esprit Holdings Limited is a publicly owned manufacturer of apparel, footwear, accessories, jewellery and housewares under the Esprit label. The company is headquartered in Kowloon, Hong Kong, and Ratingen , Germany. In the 2007–2008 business year, Esprit Holdings Limited generated a worldwide...

, the first Apple Store in France, Plaisirs de Paris, Swarovski

Swarovski

Swarovski is the brand name for a range of precisely-cut crystal and related luxury products produced by Swarovski AG of Wattens, Austria...

, Perigot, Le Tanneur, and Fossil

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

.

The mall includes a food court

Food court

A food court is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food vendors and provides a common area for self-serve dining. Food courts may be found in shopping malls and airports, and in various regions may be a standalone development...

, Restaurants du Monde, containing several restaurants including a controversial McDonalds. The mall includes a convention center and exhibition hall.

The shopping mall contains one of the few entrances to the Louvre museum.